A new COVID-19 variant of “serious concern” emerges in Victoria as the state records four other local cases

A new variant of COVID-19 has emerged in Victoria, and health officials are on the alert.

Genomic sequencing of two cases from a family in West Melbourne revealed infection with the delta mutant.

“This is a variant of serious concern,” said Professor Sutton.

It remains unclear how the family, who also traveled to Jervis Bay, NSW, was infected with the virus.

Three of the four new cases on Friday were family-related, with seven clusters in West Melbourne.

The new case is two parents and one child, and another child of the same family returns uncertain test results, which Professor Sutton believes is also a positive case.

“We are concerned that it is not related to other cases, but we are tracking all the contacts of the family’s major cases and investigating where they may have been obtained,” said Professor Sutton. Said.

“It is not related to hotel quarantine or a series of incidents across Australia from Victoria or other jurisdictions unrelated.”

No one has been hospitalized for the new Delta variant yet.

Another new case is the main close contact of another confirmed case.

With four new cases, the current epidemic in Victoria has exceeded 60.

This was after it was confirmed Thursday that the two previous cases were false positives.

Health officials initially believed that women were infected with COVID-19 at the Mickleham Metricon Exhibition Hall, and men were infected with the virus at the Brighton Beach Hotel as well.

A medical committee of experts has found that this is not the case.

The two suspected “temporary” infections with the coronavirus were now false positives and were part of the justification for the extension of Melbourne’s lockdown.

Acting Victorian Prime Minister James Merlino said there were no immediate plans to shorten the blockade of Melbourne, despite two false positives.

“Our answer to that hasn’t changed and shouldn’t have changed,” Merlino said.

“Public health advice remains the same.

“This (false positive or false negative) rarely occurred, but after hundreds of thousands of tests, it is characteristic.”

The COVID-free pair and its primary close contacts are freed from quarantined and reclassified exposure sites, including everything in Anglesea along the Great Ocean Road.

On Friday morning, the Ministry of Health issued a statement stating that there were still eight cases of transmission through transit contact.

He added that there are still five places where the virus has spread through people who are not acquainted with each other.

Also on Friday, Commonwealth said the Commonwealth would try to help Victoria meet its growing demand for vaccines.

“I’m very pleased that the federal government has shown that it will do everything it can to meet Victoria’s request,” Merlino said.

Victoria wants to double the dose of AstraZeneca available to the GP and increase Pfizer’s dose by 100,000 times at public vaccination sites from mid-June.

Currently, there are 358 sites that may have been infected with the virus.

Meanwhile, the federal and Victorian governments have signed a memorandum of understanding to build an independent quarantine site for the state, and Avalon appears to be a preferred location in Canberra.

The federal government has stated that the facility “exceeds” the current hotel quarantine system, and Merlino said it always carries certain risks.

“We’ve seen 21 violations in hotel quarantine across the country. Our strong claim is that alternatives like Howard Springs, a dedicated quarantine facility for the highest-risk individuals. That’s what we need, “Merlino said on Friday.

From Thursday 24 hours to midnight, 49,439 tests were performed and 24,169 vaccinations were recorded.